Se reposer sur ses lauriers
Meaning: To coast on past achievements instead of continuing to work.
Language: French
Literally: To rest on one's laurels
Category: Daily Life
Origin: The laurel wreath crowned Roman triumphs and poetic victories alike. The reproach is that the wreath was for what was done, not a license for what follows.
More idioms — Daily Life
- Au pied de la lettre / À la lettre — Literally, in the strictest sense.
- Entrer en lice — To join a contest or dispute.
- Se faire limoger — To be relieved of a post; to be sacked.
- Laver son linge sale en famille — Keep internal disputes private.
- Par le petit bout de la lorgnette — From a needlessly narrow point of view.
- Être une lumière — To be highly intelligent — used almost exclusively in the negative.
More French idioms
- Une lune de miel — The first happy period of a marriage, or of any new arrangement.
- Bien luné — In a good mood — and mal luné, in a bad one.
- Depuis belle lurette — For ages; for a very long time.
- Depuis des lustres — For a very long time.
- Pleurer comme une Madeleine — To cry copiously and without restraint.
- Une madeleine de Proust — A small sensory trigger that unlocks a flood of memory.
From our proverbs
- You must go into the country to hear what news at London. — Traveling away from centers of power reveals truths that official channels deliberately c…
- Every couple is not a pair. — Not all romantic partnerships function as unified wholes; some lack the harmony needed fo…
- A friend at court is better than a penny in the purse. — Social connections with influential people create more opportunities than monetary saving…
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